David Anointed King #54

David’s anointing as king took place in Bethlehem, years before he actually took the throne. After God rejected Saul as king, He sent the prophet Samuel to the household of Jesse to anoint one of his sons. When Jesse’s older sons passed by, none was chosen, and it was the youngest, out with the sheep, whom God pointed out. The account is in 1 Samuel 16.

Biblical Account

The LORD asked Samuel how long he would grieve over Saul and told him to fill his horn with oil and go to Jesse of Bethlehem, for God had chosen a king from among his sons. Samuel feared that Saul would kill him if he found out, so God told him to take a heifer and say he had come to sacrifice (1 Samuel 16:1-3). When Samuel arrived, the elders of the town came out trembling, and he consecrated Jesse and his sons for the sacrifice (1 Samuel 16:4-5).

When Samuel saw Eliab, the eldest, he thought that surely this was the LORD’s anointed. But the LORD said that He does not see as people see: people look at outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:6-7). Seven of Jesse’s sons passed before Samuel, and none was chosen. Samuel asked whether these were all the sons, and Jesse said the youngest was tending the sheep. Samuel insisted that they would not sit down until he came. David was brought in, described as ruddy with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance, and the LORD told Samuel to anoint him. Samuel poured the oil in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:8-13).

At the same time, the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a troubling spirit tormented him. Saul’s servants recommended a skilled musician, and David was brought to play the lyre for the king, becoming a trusted armor-bearer (1 Samuel 16:14-23). The two threads of the story, David anointed and David serving Saul, set up the tension that runs through the rest of 1 Samuel.

Theological Significance

The scene reverses expectations, since God chooses the youngest, the one no one thought to invite, and looks at inner character rather than stature. Later writers return to the motif. Psalm 78 says God chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds to shepherd Jacob (Psalm 78:70-72), and Paul, speaking in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, says God found in David a man after His heart (Acts 13:22).

The word “anointed” translates the Hebrew root behind mashiach, or messiah, and David’s line becomes the basis for the hope of a future anointed king. The anointing did not make David king at once, and he waited many years, during which he was pursued by Saul, before he ruled over Judah and then all Israel. His reign is traditionally dated to about 1010 to 970 BC.